Bridal Makeup: What To Ask Your Makeup Artist If You Are From A Small Town

Hello ladies! This post will be covering what a Bengali bridal
makeup should be and what it should ABSOLUTELY ‘not’ be! The first pic of this post had to be of a good makeup artist
and his/her fabulous work so that you can expect the right thing from your appointed
artist :) But be prepared for the
following images as they are going to be images of how your wedding makeup
should NOT be. Please note that these
pictures are taken from Google and we do not intend to mock any bride: It
is just that we sympathize with them that some utterly abominable creature had
ruined their day and we hope after reading this article, you do not let your
artist ruin yours.

Bengali Bridal Makeup: Image Source-Google Images/ Pearl Photography

This article is special to me because the “makeup disasters” I
came across right from my childhood when we attended weddings. I used to wonder
how on earth perfectly pretty brides looked SO horrendous on their wedding day:
caked up dolls. This question made me look up magazines,notice TV actresses (no
internet access during those days) and make mental notes what to do and what to
avoid.

The
following will give you a list of “findings” at a normal Bengali wedding in a
small town. (The points listed below are for people who do not have a
clue about makeup trends. The others like us who already know the basics can
skip reading this)

1.Foundation Plaster:

We hate to prick the balloon ladies, but foundation does NOT make you look fair. In fact, it is not even meant to do so! Foundations are to
be used in a shade which perfectly matches with your skin tone to “tone” your
complexion and make it look even. And a
glowing smooth complexion in ANY shade looks the best at any day. Trust me,
fair skin is not always equal to good skin. Unfortunately, what parlors in
small towns do to their brides is the complete opposite: Light foundation caked
up all over the face of a bride irrespective of her natural skin tone. Result?
ASH-GREY skin which is quite akin to a horror story main lead :-/ And how can I
forget, a dark neck with the ash-color face, as the artist quite comfortably
ignores the neck while applying foundation!

Bengali bridal makeup "don'ts"

What to check with your makeup artist: A
range of foundation shades in her kit. Good makeup artist will always keep most
complexions in mind and will mix two or more foundation shades to acheive the
shade best matched to your skin. If she has just one or two shades RUN away
from her/him.

2.Eyeshadow matching misconception:

Ladies, you do not need
to wear red eyeshadow with red banarasi and blue/green eyeshadow with
blue/green banarasi. Almost 99% of small town parlors will have one
shimmery eyeshadow pallete with various screaming bold colors which they
happily use on the brides “matching” her saree color! Bengalis have naturally
big and beautifully shaped eyes. A nice
golden, a bronze, and matte brown eyeshadow and lots of kajal and eyeliner is
enough to dramatize your eyes with ANY color banarasi. Reds/ pinks can also
be used if your artist knows the art of blending the crease of the eyelid well
with matte brown eyeshadow. Leave your
blues and greens for your westerns or other ethnics like anarkali salwars et al.

Bengali bridal makeup "don'ts"

What to check with your makeup artist: See
if he/she has enough eyeshadow palettes with matte shades. If he does not have
any neutral shade eye shadows like brown, beige, taupe, cream or black, it is
very likely that the concept of using subtle colors on brides is foreign to
him. Start searching for another artist.

3.Blending blunder:

This bring us to our third point: Eye shadow belnding. When I
had started recovering from disaster makeup-walis of our town and was just
getting awestruck by the wonderful professional makeup artists an odd thing
struck me. I have seen quite a few
artists using gold and red on the eyelids but not bothering to blend both of
them with each other or the creaseline! :-o Any eye shadow will make your eyes look like an alien if not blended
properly.

Bengali bridal makeup "don'ts"

What to check with your makeup artist: Check
if he has blending brushes, matte eyeshadow shades for the purpose. If all he
has are those glittery palettes and the sponge applicator which comes with those
palettes, then lady, take my advice, give your sweetest smile and flee!!
(Before he starts convincing you that ‘Medem, aj kal toh yahee yooj karte hain
sab brides’)

4.Chandan catastrophe:

The one thing which distinguishes a Bengali bride from any
other bride is the beautiful designs made with “Chandan” on her forehead along
with the bright red bindi. These days mostly acrylic colors are used in white
and yellow to give the same effect as chandan but with ease of application. If you stay in a place where there are no
expert chandan artists, then your best shot is to just apply dots of white
around the big red teep (bindi)
You can never go wrong with this simplistic design. Else, the untrained,
over-ethusiastic and absolutely pathetic parlor-walis will “gift” you THIS on
your day.

Bengali bridal makeup "don'ts"

What to check with your makeup artist: See
pictures of brides done by him/her prior to your wedding. Don’t make the
mistake of showing him your favorite design and asking if he can replicate it.
OF COURSE he will say a yes! Don’t fall for the trap. Let his work speak for
him. If not convinced, get a friend who is good with brushes and ask her/him to
draw a simple design around your bindi.

5.Maroon Lipstick:

The final disaster is
THE-MAROON-LIPSTICK. This one gave me nightmares actually! While the bride should always look young, radiant and fresh, a maroon
lipstick blesses you with the OPPOSITE effect. A perfectly young and bright
girl in her mid-twenties end up looking like the mother of three! :-/ Bridal shades for a Bengali bride (if her
attire is benarashi saree) should always be reds, pinks, peachy nudes, pinkish
nudes etc. It should NEVER be maroon or brown. Deeper skinned beauties
please take note, you will look ravishing in shades of reds, brick-reds,
reddish pinks etc. Please for heaven’s sake, do NOT wear a maroon on your
special day and end up looking like the groom’s mother. Even if your saree is
maroon, do not match your lipstick with it. Go for a deep pinkish red and look
like that perfect blushing bride :)

Bengali bridal makeup "don'ts"

What to check with your makeup artist: See if
he/she has enough variety of lipstick shades in her kit. Signs of danger are
one maroon lipstick and one brownish red lipstick. A safer option is to always
keep your lipstick shade in your personal kit which you have picked up after
trials at the stores.

6.Blusher Blues:

Another sad thing I noticed in
the makeup-disasters of the brides are the excessive
use of blush and contour: Either that pink blush is like a BIG circle on
both her cheeks, or that brown contour is like a blotch of mud on her cheek :-/ The untrained makeup artists forget that “less is
more” when it comes to blush and contour for a bride. A soft blush, a slight contour and a bit of highlighting is all she
needs to look flawless. You do not need to put two kilos of each on your
face and look like a clown.

What to check with your makeup artist: Check
if he/she has a proper blush palette or two three shades of blushes in the kit.
Every complexion is different and there is a perfect blush for each complexion.
Also see his brush kit. He/she should have a proper blending brush for blending
the blush, contour and highlighter really well into your skin.

These are the MAJOR flaws in a
bride’s makeup I have come across till now. There are other stuff regarding
attire too which shall be covered in upcoming posts. For now, read and remember
these ;) You
should look nothing less than a princess on your special day and let no
“expert” parlor-wala spoil the day for you :)

Disclaimer: This post is not to mock any bride. The pictures have been downloaded from Google images. If it belongs to you and you don't want it here, just drop us a mail and we shall take it down :)

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About Me

Hello! This is Aparajita Sengupta and this blog is where you will find interesting budget finds as well as honest product reviews of high end brands of make-up. For DIYs, fashion trends, tutorials and website reviews, this is the place for you